


How to Care for Your Gecko

by FriendlyNonMurdering



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Animal AU, Bath Time, Coyote Jesse McCree, Cuddling, Discussion of Eating Disorder, Gecko Genji Shimada, Humans with animal traits, M/M, but just in case, it seems really serious at first but it's not at all, one hundred percent fluff I promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-13 06:53:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12978495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FriendlyNonMurdering/pseuds/FriendlyNonMurdering
Summary: It didn’t sink into Jesse's brain that something waswronguntil Genji refused to eat fruit salad.Jesse didn’t even realize that he had been bribing Genji to eat—something deep inside of him telling him that his mate wassick—until he started buying fruit salad by the gallon. Jesse set out a massive bowl of gooey, sugary fruit every night with dinner. Genji would normally dive in for the fruit salad and eat at least three helpings of it. If he was feeling especially picky, he would specifically pick out the kiwis and cherries.Over a month, Genji took less and less of the fruit salad. At first, Jesse just thought that it was the brand he was buying. Was it—as impossible as it sounded—too sweet? No way, not when it came to Genji Shimada.





	How to Care for Your Gecko

**Author's Note:**

> Genji is a [gold dust day gecko](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/Gold_Dust_Day_Gecko.jpg)
> 
> This story was 10000% inspired by the way my geckos spread out when I turn on their heating pad during the winter time. Alternatively titled Gecko Care Sheet? _another g rated fic bc im weak and want cute things_

The transition started so slowly that Jesse didn’t notice it at first.

It didn’t sink in that something was _wrong_ until Genji refused to eat fruit salad.

Jesse didn’t even realize that he had been bribing Genji to eat—something deep inside of him telling him that his mate was _sick_ —until he started buying fruit salad by the gallon. Who knew that fruit salad was sold in such enormous amounts? Jesse set out a bowl of it every night with dinner. Genji, a naturally picky eater, would normally dive in for the fruit salad and eat at least three helpings of it, specifically the kiwis and cherries.

Over a month, Genji took less and less of the fruit salad. At first, Jesse just thought that it was the brand he was buying. Was it—as impossible as it sounded— _too sweet_? No way, not when it came to Genji Shimada.

Jesse watched that night as Genji speared a single cherry on his fork, brought it lazily to his lips, and lapped at some of the sugary goop that covered it, before setting down his fork and the cherry with it. Jesse’s ears pressed flat to his head, a whine bubbling up in his throat. He held it back as best as he could, but Genji caught it anyways.

Genji offered Jesse a little shrug.

“I’m not very hungry,” he said.

“You haven’t been hungry in a long time,” Jesse countered, furrowing his thick eyebrows at Genji. 

Genji stood from the table with a languid shrug. “You wouldn’t get it.”

Jesse wasn’t sure if he should have been offended or worried by the comment. It wasn’t often that Genji blocked him out. And not eating? That seemed like something incredibly important to include your mate on.

Genji turned from the table, rubbing at the back of his neck as he retreated to their bedroom. It was then that Jesse realized. It hit him like a train in the face just how skinny Genji had become. His loose t-shirt did nothing to hide it. If anything, it made it all the more obvious to Jesse. He knew that t-shirt normally clung to Genji around the middle, but it flapped suspiciously as Genji walked. His tail, normally wide and wiggling, had shrunk significantly.

Jesse felt like he’d been smacked. Why the Hell hadn’t he noticed? Genji hadn’t been eating anything sustainable for _months_. When was the last time he had seen Genji eat an entire meal? Jesse wracked his brain. He couldn’t remember, and that made it so much worse. The change hadn’t been drastic enough for Jesse to notice right away.

What the _fuck_ was wrong with him? His mate was sick—maybe mentally, too, and that scared Jesse all the more—and he hadn’t noticed. It had taken Genji only licking at a cherry for Jesse to notice. Shouldn’t he have noticed the first time Genji stopped eating?

Suddenly, it all began to make sense.

Jesse dropped his face into his hands.

Genji rarely wanted to be intimate anymore. He refused to take his clothes off around Jesse. He never exercised anymore. He slept upwards of eighteen hours some days, and the other six were spent lounging and dozing. Sometimes he sunned himself, but the days were short in the wintertime, and the chill in the air made him retreat inside before long. In the summer, Genji would spend so long sunning himself that Jesse had to force him back inside.

Jesse wracked his brain for anything he could think of. Was Genji still playing video games? Calling Hanzo? Buying things? Dressing nicely? Doing _anything_ he liked doing?

A pit formed in Jesse’s stomach. He was going to be sick. Should he call someone? Or would it be better to talk to Genji directly? Surely, Hanzo would need to know about this. What if Genji asked him not to tell? Wouldn’t that be _more_ reason for Jesse to tell his brother? 

Jesse stood from the dinner table, ears back and tail held low. He padded slowly to the bedroom and peered inside. Genji was already in bed, swaddled in a burrito of blankets. Jesse approached the bed, and crawled in next to Genji, attempting to break through his bundle of blankets. Genji eventually let him in, but not without grumbling and groaning.

Jesse nuzzled as close as he could to Genji despite the protests and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. Genji struggled at first but then melted into the warmth that Jesse had to offer.

Jesse opened his mouth to speak, but he found that his voice was nowhere near strong enough to ask the question that burned on the tip of his tongue. As unfamiliar as Jesse was with reptiles, he felt even _more_ unfamiliar about broaching the subject of an eating disorder. A cold, clammy hand clenched around Jesse’s heart and lungs. He needed a second opinion before he dove into this head first. Another person there to help him when he confronted Genji would make it all a lot easier.

Genji was already softly snoring by the time Jesse settled on calling Hanzo first thing in the morning to discuss the issue. Jesse craned his neck to nuzzle at Genji’s mop of green hair, with at least an inch and a half of black growth—what might have been a _crime_ just a few months ago—and breathed in the scent of his mate deeply.

Genji needed help.

Jesse would get it for him. 

 

Jesse nearly had a heart attack when he woke up.

Genji was cold all over. Somehow during the night, he had left the bundle of blankets and scooted farther away from Jesse. Jesse nudged and nudged and nudged at Genji’s cold form until he finally responded, grumbling and blinking slowly at Jesse. He furrowed his eyebrows at Jesse before turning over onto his belly and pulling the blankets up to his chin.

It by no means reassured Jesse about the situation, but if Genji’s temperature continued to drop so drastically, combined with the lack of food, things were going to become a lot worse. 

Jesse wrapped Genji as tightly as he could in the blankets before getting up and heading into the kitchen. He snatched his phone from the counter and flicked through the contacts until finding Hanzo’s number. He stepped outside as he pressed the call icon, silently shutting the back door behind himself. 

“You’ve reached Hanzo.”

As professional as ever. Jesse rolled his eyes. Did he even have Jesse’s number saved into his phone? Seeing as how Jesse was only supposed to be one of Genji’s flings—three years later and they were still going strong—Jesse didn’t find it very shocking that Hanzo hadn’t saved his number.

“Hey, Han, it’s Jesse,” he greeted. “McCree,” he tacked on, just in case Hanzo had forgotten about him completely.

“I know which Jesse,” Hanzo replied curtly.

Jesse hesitated after that. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth. How did one mention that he was thinking that his boyfriend, Hanzo’s brother, had developed an eating disorder that was taking a serious turn after only a few months? 

“Well?” Hanzo asked.

If Jesse wasn’t wrong, he sounded slightly concerned.

“I think that… somethin’ is wrong with Genji,” Jesse muttered. Better to get it out there in the open. Hanzo could take the bait, and maybe help Jesse know where to go. “Really wrong,” he added, glancing back at the door to make sure that Genji hadn’t silently appeared over his shoulder.

Hanzo was deathly silent for a long time. He was a quiet man on a good day, but this was something else. If it weren’t for the heat of his phone pressed against his face, Jesse would have thought Hanzo ended the call.

“Please explain,” Hanzo finally urged. 

“He’s been really distant,” Jesse began, figuring it was the best place to start. He would ease Hanzo into the fact that his brother, normally a vacuum around food, had taken to licking sugar syrup off maraschino cherries. “I know you don’t need ta know all the details, but we ain’t really been close fer a while.” Jesse could already hear the comment about Genji moving on, so he gave no time for Hanzo to butt in. “He sleeps all day, he don’t do things he normally likes, he ain’t even bleached ‘nd dyed his hair in ‘bout a month.”

Hanzo hummed softly. “That is very strange for him,” he agreed.

“I know!” Jesse cried, throwing his spare hand up in exasperation. “’N,’ Hanzo, the whole reason I called is ‘cuz he ain’t eatin’,” Jesse said, lowering his voice once more. “He’s lost so much weight, and he’s tryna cover it up, too.”

Hanzo, once again, fell silent. The tension was palpable, even over the phone. Jesse couldn’t blame him. If it was stressing him out that Genji was acting this way, he couldn’t imagine how Genji’s _older brother_ felt about the situation. Jesse worked his jaw back and forth for a long time. He didn’t know what to say. What _could_ he say? It wasn’t as if this was calling to tell Hanzo that a pet had died, this was calling to say that his brother was slowly killing himself.

“I don’t know what to do,” Jesse whispered. He pressed his palm hard against his forehead. “I don’t know what to do, Hanzo,” he repeated, “I ain’t never dealt with somethin’ like this before.”

Jesse nearly began to cry as the silence fell once more. He couldn’t believe that he had dragged Hanzo into this, or the emotional toll that he was forcing onto Hanzo with the subject matter. 

Hanzo made a soft noise. Somewhere between a gasp and a hiccup. Jesse was more lost than ever. If this was causing Hanzo to cry, it really was serious.

But when Hanzo spoke, he sounded like he had the smuggest smirk on his face.

“Are you not on vacation with Genji right now?” he asked.

“Yeah, we are,” Jesse replied, suspicion creeping into his voice. “Why?”

“In Hanamura, correct?”

“Yes,” Jesse answered. “ _Why_?” he asked again, feeling like he had been left out of a joke.

“And it is winter?”

“Yes!” Jesse snapped, pushed beyond simple annoyance and confusion. This was frustrating as _Hell_. Hanzo sounded almost gleeful, but his brother was starving himself. It wasn’t funny at all. “Hanzo, fer fuck’s sake,” Jesse growled, his tail lashing furiously, “what’s going on?”

“Genji is cold,” Hanzo said as if that answered everything.

Jesse shook his head. “Hanzo, you better explain better’n that,” he grumbled, attempting to get his growling under control. 

“After all these years and you still do not know about reptilian habits?” Hanzo chastised. “Reptiles’ bodies slow down when we become cold, Jesse. Genji is probably at his limit, so his body is attempting to hibernate. He uses less energy, so he does not need to replace it with much food. Genji is too vain to starve himself, come spring he will be back to his normal self, eating three helpings of dinner a night.”

Jesse nearly collapsed. All the adrenaline that had kept him awake and powered him through his morning and gave him the strength to have this call had been sapped out all at once.

“What?” he whispered.

Hanzo chuckled. He _damn chuckled_. “You remember when we first moved to the states? It was because our mother fell ill with a lack of warmth and sun. Genji will not become ill after a few months without it, but he will slow down. I assure you, it’s a natural process.”

“So he’s…he’s okay?”

“Mhm,” Hanzo hummed. “Though he might be slightly grumpy or lethargic.”

“Don’t know that I’ve seen him get grumpy, but he’s sure lethargic all the time,” Jesse mused, rubbing his chin. He needed to go inside and go back to sleep. He needed a drink, too. “’S there anythin’ I can do?”

"It may sound odd, but you can warm him up again,” Hanzo said. “Buy a heated mattress pad, set up a warm bath for him. He will appreciate it. And he will eat more again after a bit if that will assuage your fears.”

Jesse furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips. “You sure?” he asked. “It don’t sound normal to talk about warmin’ him up or lettin’ him slow down. Shouldn’t I just let his body do what his body’s gotta do?” 

“You can always ask _him_ about it,” Hanzo suggested. “However, I do recommend a heated mattress pad, either way. He would spend hours lounging under _kotatsu_ as a child.”

“Awright. Thanks, Hanzo,” Jesse said. “I really… I really appreciate it. I know I don’t know much ‘bout you lizards, but I didn’t mean ta scare you if I did.”

“For a little, yes,” Hanzo honestly answered. “The next time something happens, do not be afraid to call if you are worried about Genji.”

“I’ll make sure I do,” Jesse said. 

Hanzo ended the call after that—without even saying goodbye, why was Jesse surprised?—and Jesse stepped back into the house. He stopped to glance at the thermometer tacked up on one of the posts keeping the porch roof held up. Fifty degrees Fahrenheit, no wonder Genji had ‘slowed down,’ as Hanzo described it. 

 

It wasn’t hard to find a heated mattress pad for Genji. It turned out, it was common for reptiles to get cold in Hanamura, and the lady in the store, a pretty fox with twitching ears and a bushy tail, guided Jesse in the right direction immediately. All he had to say, in broken Japanese, was ‘my reptile boyfriend is really cold’—although it came out closer to ‘my lizard is ice’—and she was dragging him over to a selection of heated mattress pads, pointing out the best ones for various reptiles. He had no idea that such a thing existed, or that there were ones with different settings to allow control over the temperature or if one side of the bed wanted to be heated and the other didn’t. It flew over his head, for the most part, so he just grabbed a basic one that went from one to ten. 

The packaging had a cute, cartoonish gecko with a fat tail lounging on the bed, so it was better than nothing, right?

Jesse arrived at their place a little after four in the afternoon; his prize squirreled away under one arm to avoid Genji from seeing it. Genji was sprawled on the couch in a sweater and Jesse’s thick sweatpants. He cracked an eye at Jesse when he shut the door but didn’t offer much else in greeting.

Jesse leaned over the back of the couch as he approached, looking down at Genji with a fond smile.

“Got a surprise for you,” Jesse greeted.

That seemed to catch Genji’s interest. He raised an eyebrow at Jesse and tilted his head. “What kind of surprise?” Genji asked.

Jesse scoffed and rolled his eyes at Genji, but he couldn’t help the overly excited wagging of his tail, thumping against his legs. Even his ears had perked up, knowing that Genji was going to love his surprise.

“That would _ruin_ the surprise,” Jesse scolded, grinning wide down at Genji. “Just stay out here while I set it up, okay?” he asked, throwing in a pout for good measure.

Genji groaned loudly but nodded. “Fine, fine,” he mumbled. “I will stay here.” 

Jesse, all but skipping, fled to their bedroom. He stripped the sheets and blankets from the bed and tucked the heated mattress pad into its place. He plugged it in and made sure it worked before replacing the sheets and blankets. The instructions had broken English on them, but it was enough for Jesse to get a running start on what he should do for the best results. He spread the blankets out evenly and set the mattress pad to the highest heat setting to let it bake like an oven under there. He only hoped that Genji would appreciate it as much as Jesse hoped he would.

Jesse turned to the bathroom next, running a hot bath nearly as hot as he could. He had taken baths with Genji before, mostly when he was getting ready to shed to help loosen the skin, and he knew that Genji liked the water one degree shy of boiling. It was uncomfortable for Jesse sometimes, but right now this was about anything other than Jesse’s comfort. 

After that was done, Jesse retreated to the living room and poked at Genji’s side. He’d started dozing again, but it wasn’t hard to rouse him.

“Get up, doll,” Jesse prompted, his grin stretching from ear to fluffy ear. “Surprise is ready.”

Genji sighed softly as he sat up from the couch, rubbing at his eyes before following Jesse into their room. He bypassed the bed, for now, wanting to save the actual surprise for last. 

Jesse tugged Genji by the hand until they were in the bathroom. Genji raised a skeptical eyebrow, but Jesse instantly saw the way Genji’s expression relaxed when the steam in the room hit him.

“Your surprise is a bath?” Genji asked, still suspicious.

“This isn’t all of it,” Jesse urged. His tail was wagging nonstop as he pulled his shirt off and then kicked off his jeans, sinking into the water without waiting for Genji. His skin prickled from the heat, but he grinned through it. “C’mon, it only gets better from here, I promise.”

Genji hummed, looking at the water like it might reach out to bite him, but Jesse noticed the way his desire was slowly winning out. Genji shifted his head from side to side for a moment longer, weighing his options, before he reached down and grabbed the hem of his sweater to pull it up over his head. He wasn’t as skinny as Jesse had thought he was. Sure, he wasn’t _quite_ as filled out as he used to be, but it wasn’t anywhere near the life-threatening scenario that Jesse had painted in his head. It looked to Jesse, as Genji turned around to take his sweatpants off that most of the weight had gone from his tail first.

Once Genji had undressed, he slipped into the water with a happy groan and settled down against Jesse’s chest. His eyes fluttered shut as he relaxed, nearly melting like Jell-O in the hot water. He shifted this way and that until he found a suitable spot, leaning his head back against Jesse’s shoulder.

“You are telling me that this _isn’t_ the best part?” Genji asked.

“That’s right,” Jesse confirmed, dipping his head down to kiss the crown of Genji’s head. 

He felt dumb, now that he thought of all the times Genji felt so much better and was more active after a hot shower until his body cooled down once more. Jesse nuzzled at Genji’s hair, peppering kisses all over until Genji was laughing and reaching back to shove Jesse’s face away. 

Jesse’s heart soared, ears flickering joyously. Why hadn’t he thought of this earlier? It wasn’t as if any of the connections were hard to draw; it was just that he needed a fierce shove in the right direction.

They stayed in the bath until it started to cool down. Genji was the first to get up, shivering as he reached for a towel to pat himself down and then wrap up in.

“So what is the rest of my surprise?” he asked with a curious tilt of his head.

His scales, clean and bright, glittered in the light as he moved. The green and gold ones that poured down his shoulders before transitioning into skin were always Jesse’s favorite to look at. He shifted one way, and they were green, the other way and they were bright gold. Well, those and the orange patterns across his lower back. 

“Go to the bed, and you’ll find out,” Jesse purred, throwing a wink in for good measure. It wasn’t at all what he had planned for the night, but he couldn’t exactly say ‘just check the bed! It’s warm!’

Genji smirked at Jesse, raising an eyebrow and winking back at him. “Jesse McCree,” he playfully scolded, “is this how you always ask for someone to join you in bed?” 

“Saved it just for you,” Jesse shot back.

Genji lingered a second longer, plush lower lip caught between his teeth before he finally turned around and left the bathroom. Jesse got up out of the water a few moments later, praying that Genji could feel the warmth through the blankets and had already settled in for a nice night. 

Jesse drained the water and then wrapped a second towel around his waist. He stepped into the bedroom and barked out a laugh at the sight that greeted him.

Genji had shucked off the blankets to get right at the source of heat. He was butt naked and flat on his belly, absorbing as much of the warmth as he could. He was face-first against the sheets, and his arms were stretched out behind him, parallel to his sides, palms up toward the ceiling. Even his tail was between his legs, pressed against the mattress.

Jesse waltzed over, feeling mightily smug as he stood to the side of the bed and looked down at Genji.

“Ya like it?” he asked, tail wagging fast enough to power a city and flicking water drops everywhere. 

Genji nodded slowly. He turned his head to the side, pressing his cheek against the bed to look back at Jesse. “This is the best surprise ever,” he said. 

Jesse grinned even more as he let his towel fall to the floor. He climbed into the bed next to Genji and hauled the blankets up to their chins. Jesse scooted in close to Genji, despite what he considered to be _unbearable_ heat. After years of living in the desert, he had grown used to dry heat but sandwiched between a heated mattress pad and a layer of heavy quilts and blankets; it was like a damn broiler.

“Heard word from a friend that if yer reptile boyfriend’s gettin’ too cold that you should warm ‘im up a little bit,” Jesse explained. He set a hand on the back of Genji’s head, petting through his soft hair. “But also that I should ask him if he even _wants_ to be warmed back up durin’ the winter or if he wants ta stay chilly.”

Genji cracked an eye open at Jesse and raised his eyebrow high. “Does your friend’s name begin with H and end with O?” he teased.

“Aw, how’d you figure it out?” Jesse snarked right back at him. “I am serious, though,” Jesse tacked on. “I was real worried about you, sugar. Sayin’ I didn’t get it—I _didn’t_ —but I thought you were gettin’ sick in more ways’n one.”

Genji’s playful expression dropped all at once. He furrowed his eyebrows at Jesse. “You were that worried about me?” he asked.

Jesse nodded. “’Course I was, babe.”

Genji glanced guiltily away. “I am sorry,” he said. “I did not mean to worry you. I only thought that, with your limited knowledge of reptiles, that it would be an odd concept to grasp. We are quite different from mammals. I did not know if you would understand.”

“Now don’t say that,” Jesse chided, “I ain’t stupid, I just don’t know all that much. I know you didn’t _mean_ ta hurt me by keepin’ me out, but next time?” Jesse pulled his hand back from Genji’s hair, and instead lightly gripped his chin. “Next time, jus’ include me. If I don’ get it, I don’ get it. But if I don’t get it, then I still know that I don’t have to worry ‘bout you. Got it?”

Genji looked entirely ashamed, with red cheeks and everything. “I understand.”

“Thanks, darlin’,” Jesse murmured as he leaned in, pressing a quick kiss to Genji’s lips. He’d heated up significantly; he felt almost as warm as Jesse always did. “And in return, I’ll tell you anythin’ about mammals that you don’t get,” Jesse said, hoping to crack Genji’s mood.

If the grin that split Genji’s lips was anything to go by, Jesse had been very successful. “You mammals are as easy to understand as a book for a five-year-old,” Genji scoffed. “All I ever hear about is _mammals this_ or _mammals that_.”

Jesse smiled as Genji continued. He was more than happy to let Genji rant for a little while longer about the disparity between mammals and reptiles. Genji’s cheeks were glowing, his eyes were alight, and he was gesturing as best as he could in the small space between himself and Jesse. It was nice to have his boyfriend back.

**Author's Note:**

> like geckos? Hmu on twitter @nonmurdering or tumblr @friendlymurdering
> 
> I was dying the entire time I wrote this I love geckos so much. Let me know what you thought in the comments?


End file.
